Sunday, January 27, 2013

A few months back, I posted my notes on a piece of terrain (Guard Tower) that I had ordered from a magnificent company in Croatia called Tabletop World. After working on the Guard Tower, I quickly ordered several other of their mediaeval/fantasy structures.

This is the Graveyard.

As you can see, it comes as a resin kit. Because of the nature of the subject matter, assembly and painting is very straightforward.

This was in interim step as I headed toward final assembly. The very large tree came in three sections. I did not use all the headstones. Instead, I left room between the rows of graves in order to allow for easier model placement during games.

Here is the finished piece.

Wrought iron fences were supplied to encircle the entire graveyard along the tops of the low stone walls. As they are quite fragile, and my intent is to use this as a gaming terrain feature, I opted to leave the grating off.

A detail shot of the rear of the graveyard. The leaves are silver birch seed keys (sold by Secret Weapon) applied with white glue, just as you'd do the static grass.

Another detail shot, this time of the front portion of the graveyard. Tabletop World sculpted plenty of detail into the base.

And now, with 100% more undead.

I think this will make a fantastic, atmospheric Warmachine terrain feature, with plenty of linear obstacles and cover.

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Elliot came over for our weekly Warmachine game on Tuesday night. This was a 50-point battle using the newly-released Steamroller 2013 scenario pack. We rolled up Scenario #11, Process of Elimination. In this game, there are two zones, and in the center of each zone is a monolith. Destroy a monolith, 1 point. Control a zone, 1 point. Dominate a zone (with your 'caster), 2 points. Game is to 5, and the 2nd player can start scoring on his second turn.

Instead of playing timed turns, we just set a 3-hour time limit for the game and enjoyed the battle at a leisurely pace.

Our opening set up...I'm Menoth on the right. Elliot is Khador on the left. You can see the zones and monoliths in the center of the board.

I rolled first player (I should have taken second!). This is a Thyra list with Blood of Martyrs, Avatar, Covenant, Errants, Daughters and a slew of support pieces. Lots of advance deployment.

Elliot is still on his "Conquest tour of Khador." He's playing Conquest with each 'caster in the faction. Today, eIrusk. This was mainly an infantry force with Assassins and Black Dragons.

Menoth turn 1. I'm fast with advance deploy. Moving first, I grab as much of the board as I can. eEiryss, Nicia and the Daughters push past the center line. Daughters have Grievous Wounds (from Thyra), Def 16 (from Rhupert) and Pathfinder (from Orrik). Errants have Stealth from Thyra. Thyra is not quite out of the killbox after her move, but she'll have next turn to move up again before the penalty kicks in.

Khador turn 1. Conquest tries to land a deviating Big Gun shot into my central solos (eIrusk provided the LOS). However, the blast deviates into open ground. He then lays down some covering fire to ward off the Daughters. Everything else advances and eIrusk feats in order to stave off an effective alpha strike by me next turn.

Menoth turn 2. There is an un-photo-documented skirmish over on the right flank. It essentially consists of my Errant solo attritioning away a unit of Widowmakers. Back in the center, due to the feat, my Daughters will not go up against the Assassins. They back up and wait a turn. However, I do have a play to get damage on eIrusk, and I go for it. Orrik gives pathfinder to Nicia. She goes up to take two weapon master swings at the only Pikeman who is blocking a shooting lane to Elliot's caster. Unfortunately, I can't crack the armor. Regardless, eEiryss moves up to prevent focus allocation to Conquest and she shoots down an assassin instead of putting a ding into eIrusk.

A gratuitous shot of eIrusk and his pikemen bodyguards. Nicia tried to crack open a path to him (bottom left of pic) for eEiryss, but unfortunately failed.

Khador turn 2. OK, Elliot goes to work. Half of his pikemen move up and take down a monolith. Various pieces step up and eventually cut down eEiryss and Nicia. He also shoots down one Daughter, triggering Vengeance. With his Black Dragon reform move, he pulls back one group of pikemen while firming up another infantry block around his 'caster. 1 scenario point for Khador.

Menoth turn 3. The Avatar charges into the pikemen in the zone killing four but three of them roll Tough. Gack! They are all on fire. Meanwhile, on the left, my play is to use Blood of Martyrs to whack one Assassin and destroy the second monolith. First damage roll on the monolith is snake eyes. At that point, I realize I can't eliminate it on remaining average rolls. I back off for protection.

The Daughters have better luck. They Vengeance move and charge into Elliot's infantry. They take down the Underboss, Holt and a couple of Assassins. This turn sucked. The net effect of two alpha-striking 'jacks was taking down two measly infantry pieces. No scenario points for me.

Khador turn 3. Great turn for Elliot. Conquest tramples, gets to the other monolith and scores his second scenario point. On my right, his pikemen charge my Enlivened Avatar. He blocks the retreat path with a lone assassin and the pikemen take down my best 'jack. I mis-played my opportunity to save Avatar. Elliot had attacked an Errant first and killed it. I could have sacrificed the one Errant blocking Avatar's retreat route, but missed the opportunity. Kicking self!

Sorry, no pic from this turn.

Menoth turn 4. It's getting close to our game time limit. Elliot is up by two points. My only play is for a draw by dominating one zone. He has seven pikemen in the right zone and I have a play to take them out. Thyra gets Carnage up and gives herself Grievous Wounds. She feats and charges into the Khador infantry. With Overtake, she gets to four pieces and kills them all. The Errants then go to work. They kill every pikeman they get to, but Elliot rolls Tough on one (was bound to happen) and things start looking bleak. I kill the knocked-down pikeman with a bolt from the Vassal. Now there is one Pikeman in the zone. I can't kill him, so I send the Daughters in to kill the Black Dragon banner that's next to eIrusk and hope for a failed morale check on the last pikeman and get my two points that way. The ploy works! The banner is killed and Elliot fails the morale check. A draw at two points each as game time expires!

But wait...Elliot checks his cards to find a way out of the draw. He gets it. He had cast Battle Lust on the pikemen the turn before, giving them Fearless for a round. The morale check should not have been taken and the last pikeman contests the zone. Elliot wins on scenario point tiebreaker. Good game!

Sunday, January 13, 2013

A few years ago I purchased a painted Khador army from Colonel Festus. This lot included a fair number of unpainted figures as well...one of them was an eEiryss model that he has separated from the molded "brick tower". I was playing in a Steamroller this weekend with a couple of Menoth armies and I wanted eEiryss in one of them. So last Thursday night I pulled her out of the Khador bag and got a quick paint job underway.

Nothing special here...just a quick solo.

I like her off the brick tower because with a little foliage, she looks more stealthy, like she should be.

Last Tuesday Elliot came over for our weekly game of Warmachine. We all had our toys out on the table when Helo decided to join the Khador army. I cried foul...illegal piece, no stat card. He was removed from play.

Sunday, January 6, 2013

Well it's 2013, and for my upcoming Warmachine year that will mean all Menoth all the time (though no doubt I'll run out of things to paint which will get me back to some Cygnar as well, I think).

This week, I finished off three Menoth 'casters and a character 'jack.

First up is Epic Severius. Love the fact he's standing on top of two acolytes. What a bastard.

Then there is Reznik. I've never played him, but he seems like quite the tank...the sort of guy you bulldoze right towards the enemy 'caster.

Next is the epic version of the High Reclaimer, named the Testament of Menoth.

Finally, we have Thyra's character 'jack, the Blood of Martyrs.

Like the other figures, I'd started this guy a long time ago and never got around to finishing him because I dove into that massive Cryx army. Well...now these four guys are all done and are packed away into the Menoth bag.

Next Menoth project is Kreoss 3, the epic cavalry 'caster. The model is very cool and I'm looking forward to painting this guy.